The Battle of the Labyrinth - Through Annabeth's Eyes
by midnightmemoriesbb
Summary: Just the book in Annabeth's POV. Review!
1. Chapter 1

**I am soooo excited that I started an account. all my stories are going to be about PJO and HOO cause I LOVE THEM! Please review:) **

Chapter 1

Percy Ruins Everything

I, Annabeth Chase, was going on a date. Well, it wasn't really a date. It was with my best friend, Percy Jackson. He had the most gorgeous face, with deep green eyes, and raven black hair. Oh, and did I mention the six pack? I mentally slapped myself. I couldn't be thinking like this. I started pacing my room, checking the clock on the wall every thirty seconds.

From the doorway, Malcolm, my second-in-command, laughed. "Excited?"

I turned around, blushing. "Shut up." I growled.

He just shook his head, and sat on one of the bottom bunks. It creaked under his weight. "Just, you know, don't get into any trouble. We need you. Both of you."

I straightened. "Of course not."

He glanced at the clock. "It's time for you to go." He said, "Remember, stay out of trouble!" He winked, and I caught myself blushing again. I ran down Half-Blood Hill to the car that Argus was going to drive me in. I hopped in, and he took off.

(Line Break)

Just let me say one thing. Running down Madison St. in the middle of Manhattan mid-afternoon traffic, in the blazing heat of summer; is not my idea of fun. Thank god I was wearing my Camp Half-Blood T-shirt which wasn't see through. That would be embarrassing. I turned the corner and came face to face with a big brick building that said the words Goode High School Welcomes You! on a big banner out in front.

Butterflies swirled in my stomach, and I tried to flatten my hair down after it had gotten frizzy by the humidity, but it was no use. I sighed. I walked around to the back entrance, but before I could get very far, I slammed into Percy.

I laughed. "Hey you're out early!" I grabbed his shoulders to keep him from falling face first into the street. I was about to say something else, when a red headed nightmare came running out, yelling, "Percy, wait up!"

My smile melted off my now furious face. I looked at the girl, giving her one of my classic glares, and then looked up at the school, finally noticing the alarms and the lapping orange flames through the black smoke.

My mouth turned upside down, and I looked at Percy. "What did you do this time? And who is this?"

"Oh, Rachel – Annabeth. Annabeth – Rachel. She's a friend, I guess." I scowled at the word friend.

"Hi." Rachel said to me. But then she turned back to Percy.

"You are in so much trouble. And you still owe me an explanation."

"Percy." I said coldly, even though I didn't mean to sound rude. "We should go." I tried to shake the iciness out of my voice. Police sirens wailed in the distance.

"I want to know more about half-bloods." Why was she still talking? "And monsters." Half-bloods an-and monsters. He told her. He really told her. I mean, I knew he was stupid, but I didn't know _how_ stupid. "And this stuff about gods." She continued on. She grabbed his arm, and drew out a red permanent marker, and wrote her number down. "You're going to call me and explain, all right? You owe me that. Now get going."

"But-" Percy argued. Gods, why couldn't he just leave her alone?

"I'll make up some story. Tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!" She ran back into the school, leaving me and Percy alone on the street. I started walking.

"Hey!" He had to jog to catch up to me. I rolled my eyes before he got to my side. "There were these two empousai. "He tried to explain, the words spilling out of his mouth in a jumble. "They were cheerleaders, and they said camp was going to burn down, and-"

"You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?" I still couldn't believe it.

"She can see through the mist. She saw the monsters before I did." Oh yay. Just one more point for Rachel.

"So you told her the truth?" I asked bewildered.

"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so-"

I cut him off again. "You've met her before?"

"Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her." He stumbled over his words, rying to cover up for his multiple mistakes.

"She's kinda cute." Dammit Annabeth! What kind of thing was that to say?

"I-I never thought about it." Yea, right. Whatever though. Wasn't I supposed to be happy for him, since I was his best friend? I kept walking straight.

"I'll deal with the school. Honest, it'll be fine." I forced myself not to look at him, even though all I wanted to do was run straight into his strong tan arms and never let go.

"I guess our afternoon is off. We should get you out of here, since now the police are searching for you." Behind us, somewhere inside of the high school, a cloud of black smoke went up.

"You're right." He told me. Of course I am. I'm not wisdom's daughter for nothing. "We have to get to Camp Half – Blood. Now."


	2. Chapter 2

**OK I am seriously soooooo sorry for not updating sooner. I have been so busy with school, and honestly not getting any reviews didn't really motivate me to update sooner.**

Chapter 2

The Hearing

Why wouldn't he just shut up. Clearly, I was angry. But he just kept asking me these questions. What's happening in California with Mt. Tam? Have you been back to camp since Christmas? How's Luke? (I almost punched him for this question).

I told him about how the mist was so strong up on Mt. Tam, that you could literally see the swirling cloud of white. I also told him that I had been to camp twice since Christmas.

"Why?" He asked.

I cocked my head, "It's a secret." I said, trying to hide my smirk. I immediately felt bad after he got that look on his face. It was so adorable. His eyebrows got all scrunched up and… What was I thinking? I was supposed to be mad at him.

"Any word on Luke?" He asked again.

I shook my head. Take a hint. I don't want to talk about it. "Mt. Tam is overrun with monsters. I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

"What about Grover?"

Grover… The poor guy. He had a hearing today, and he was about to get his searcher's license taken away. He was basically distraught about it. "He's at camp," I decided to keep it short, so I didn't have to answer any more questions. "We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?" My hands went up to my necklace, fingering my dad's ring.

"You'll see." Better to let him see it for himself, then for me to try to explain it.

"Can I call my mom?" He asked me.

I felt my eyes soften. "Of course." Percy's mom was awesome. A lot better than that Rachel person.

He left a message, explaining what happened, and then handed the phone back to me. We sat in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to camp.

-o0o-

I handed a roll of cash to the taxi driver, and he stopped arguing about how there was nothing there. We got out, and climbed to the top of half-blood hill. I patted Peleus on the head.

"Hey, Peleus. Keeping everything safe?" I had a soft spot for the dragon. He protected Thalia's tree, and that was enough for me to like the growing dragon.

We walked down into the valley. The camp was dotted with people, everyone sword-fighting, at canoe lessons, flying pegasus'. Stawberries glistened in the afternoon sun, satyrs playing their pipes around the edges of the garden.

"I need to talk to Clarisse." I announced. The look on Percy's face was priceless.

"What for?"

"We've been working on something. I'll see you later." We had been working on figuring out the Labyrinth. It was a dangerous piece of growing architecture. Chris Rodriguez, who had gone mad down there, (now rambling about string), was found when Clarisse went down there. She almost didn't make it back. We had to figure out why Luke wanted Ariadne's string so bad.

"Working on what?" He asked innocently.

My eyes drifted towards the forest. Grover was in there right now, his fate being decided at the hands of two idiotic satyrs.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here. He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

I ignored him, jogging down the hills to go find Chiron.

(Line Break)

"Chrion!" I called out to him.

"Hello, my dear." He said with a grim smile. "How was the movie?"

"We didn't go. Listen, something happened." His smile disappeared, replaced by a concerned look.

"What happened?" I gave him a little debriefing on what happened at Goode. I left out the part about the mortal girl, but the part about the _dracanae_ seemed to trouble him enough.

"I see. Luke has started his planned attack. Is Percy here?"

"Yes. I thought you would want to talk to him. He doesn't know about the whole Labyrinth thing though." He just nodded.

"Very well then. I will go find him, and meet you back at the hearing." I was turning and running to the clearing before he got the last words out of his mouth.

I got there in record time. I slowed down, catching my breath. Clarisse caught my eye, and she motioned me over. Grover's girlfriend, Juniper, was there, and she didn't look happy. She was crying, her eyes tinted a dark green. I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. Soon, Percy showed up.

Clarisse muttered. "Punk," as a greeting to Percy. I rolled my eyes. They were basically friends. They just pretended to hate each other for the fun of it.

The hearing was going pretty awful. Next to me, Juniper spoke aloud my thoughts.

"This is going terribly." She said miserably, sniffling.

"No, no. He'll be fine." I patted her shoulders, trying to soothe her. I saw Percy staring and I mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend. He looked surprised, but then took a really good look at Juniper and his eyes dawned with realization. It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes.

"Master Underwood! Do you really expect us to believe this?" Silenus told him.

"B-but, sir, it's the truth." He stuttered. I hadn't been there when this had happened, but I would believe Grover any day over Silenus. Silenus conferred with his other council members.

Silenus adjusted himself on his throne. "Master Underwood, for six months – six months – we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you have heard the wild god Pan speak."

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" Maron exclaimed.

"Now, Maron." Chiron said as soothingly as he could. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to… to _him_."

Juniper balled up her fists, an angry look appearing her eyes. My mind went a hundred miles an hour, calculating what I would do if Juniper attacked Maron, which was looking very likely at the moment. I tightened my grip on her shoulder. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered too her. "Wait."

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded with Silenus."

"Nothing!" Leneus decided to talk. "You have found nothing."

"But Leneus –"

Silenus raised his hand, signaling silence. Chiron leaned forward, and whispered something in his ear. The satyrs didn't look happy, arguing and muttering silently over what Chiron had said, but Chiron said something else to them, and they gave in. Silenus nodded reluctantly, sighing.

"Master Underwood." Silenus announced in a grave tone, "we will give you one more chance."

Grover's face lit up. "Thank you!"

"One more week." Grover's face fell.

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater perhaps. Or tap dancing." At this point, I was ready to go up and punch Silenus in the nose. I hadn't been there when Grover had supposedly seen a sign from Pan, and I wasn't about to tell Grover that it was most likely not Pan, but Grover was one of my best friends. I wasn't about to let this guy tell him that he should pursue a career in tap dancing.

"But sir, I-I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life-."

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. Gods, he was a jerk. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!" I rolled my eyes. There was a reason he was fat.

Silenus clapped his hands gleefully. Nymphs melted out of trees, walking gracefully into the center of the forest, platters piled high with vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and many other goat foods. The circle of satyrs broke apart, and ran towards the food. Grover walked sadly over to us.

"Hey Percy," He said depressingly, "That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper shook with fury. I had to admit, her and Grover were pretty cute. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried."

"There is another option." Clarisse said. I tried not to shiver at the thought. Grover in the Labyrinth? Not a good mix.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head slightly. "Grover, I won't let you."

Grover's face paled, a light gray. "I-I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" Percy looked so confused. He looked so cute when he was confused, but that wasn't the point. The conch horn sounded in the distance, signaling cabin inspection.

I pursed my lips. "I'll fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

-o0o-

"Inspection is in ten minutes!" I heard my brother, Malcolm yelling at our cabin. He was my second-in-command. I bit back a small smile, and put my hand on his shoulder.

"I got this." I murmured quietly. The new campers hadn't quite gotten the daily routine yet, and Malcolm wasn't one with patience.

"Cabin six!" I called loudly. Heads swiveled, the younger ones looking up at me with awe. I didn't really get it. I mean, I was still just another demigod, just like them. "Sabrina, Thomas, and Ian. I want you guys to focus on cleaning the floor." I gave out orders quickly. "Katie, Mal, Jake and Rebecca. Organize the library. Malcolm and I will clear off the bunks." People got in their groups, and in no time, the cabin was spotless.

Silena walked gracefully into the room, a clipboard held delicately in her perfect french- manicured nails. She did a small little twirl, then a small smile appeared on her face. "Very good. Five out of…five." She marked it down. "And Annabeth." She winked. "You'll have to tell me about how yesterday went." She gave a little wave, before turning on her heel and swishing out the door. I knew I was still blushing, even after she left.

-o0o-

I tried to enjoy the time with Tyson and Percy. To be honest, I had missed Percy more than I would like to admit. I kept glancing towards the forest, the idea of an entrance to the labyrinth, straight in the middle of camp haunting me. We hadn't confirmed there was an entrance yet, but we were pretty sure. Clarisse and I, that is. Most of the rest of the camp was still oblivious to the secret me and Clarisse were working on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! (: So, if you have any suggestions for the story, please review, because I really need some good ideas for when Annabeth isn't around Percy.**

Chapter 3

The next morning at breakfast, there was a lot of excitement about the drakon that had stationed it self outside the camp. It had woken me up, but I heard that the Apollo cabin was already on it, so I didn't come out of my cabin.

"It's still out there," Lee warned us all during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The ting was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes-" Lee shuddered.

"You did well, Lee." Chiron patted his back, trying to comfort him. "Everyone stay alerts, but stay calm. This has happened before."

"Aye." Quintus spoke up. I didn't know what to think of him. He seemed nice, but almost too nice. No, that wasn't true. He was a nice man, he just seemed… hidden. Overly protective of what he told people. Mysterious. That was the word. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."

A small murmur broke out, people talking worriedly about the attack.

Everybody knew the rumors. Luke was going to invade the camp, coming straight from the heart of the camp. Nobody though, knew that Clarisse and I knew the exact way he was going to get into the camp. We just needed to know where that entrance was.

"This is a good reason for new war games." Quintus said, a scary glint in his eyes. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."

"Yes…" Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods!

Everyone raised their glasses and repeated the blessing.

The Athena cabin went to the bronze brazier, and I scraped a little bit of the cinnamon toast into the fire.

"Athena." I whispered. "Help me with Percy, and Kronos, and the Labyrinth." I headed back to my table.

I tried to decide if I should tell Percy about the Labyrinth. I thought it was the right thing to do, (and I was normally right), but Chiron seemed to think that it would only 'distress the child'. I didn't agree. Percy was our leader. He needed to know this stuff, even if it meant 'distressing him'. And I also knew that he would want to know about this. That decided it. I was going to tell him. I glanced over at his table, where Chiron and Grover were walking away from.

Then I did something so impulsive, that if Mr. D was here, I would've been killed. I slid in next to Percy. I realized I was a little close, but I wasn't going to back away now.

"I'll tell you what it's about." I said. "The Labyrinth."

People kept stealing glances over at us, but I didn't care. They could think whatever they wanted to. I know what most people were thinking, something along the lines of 'oh look, its Percy and Annabeth! Aren't they the cutest, breaking the rules just so they can sit next to each other.'. Which was totally not what was happening.

"You're not supposed to be here." He pointed out. No, duh.

"We need to talk." I insisted. Ok, maybe I was _really_ close to him. Like bodies touching close. And I just couldn't help but think about that.

"But the rules…" I knew about the rules. Did he think I was stupid? Quintus looked over at us, and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Probably because Percy and I had more credibility at this camp then he ever would.

"Look." I said. "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

Percy shifted his weight, accidentally or on purpose, moving closer to me. I mean, he was right there. I was practically sitting on him. Oh my gods, stupid girl hormones. I tried to ignore them. "you mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"Exactly. "I said.

"So…it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore." He guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."

I rolled my eyes. Was he really that dumb? "Under a building? Please, Percy. The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn't fit under a single city, much less a single building."

"So… is the Labyrinth part of the underworld?" He asked.

"No." I frowned, not knowing if it was or not. "Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth to the Underworld. I'm not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth."

"If you don't get lost." Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death." I shot him a look.

"Grover, there has to be a way." I was desperate to get him to go. He still hadn't found Pan, and I just had this feeling that if he went down into the Labyrinth, he would find something. "Clarisse lived."

"Barely!" Grover said. "And the other guy-" I cut him off. We were not talking about him right now.

"He was driven insane. He didn't die."

"Oh joy. That makes me feel much better." I almost laughed.

"Whoa." Percy said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy." I could feel Clarisse's brown eyes staring at the scene Percy and I were causing.

"Last year." I lowered my voice, not wanting anyone else to hear. "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."

"I remember. It was secret." I nodded. I was the only one who had known about it.

"It was secret." I agreed. "because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?"

"Yeah." I said. "Last year, he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse's mom's house."

"What do you mean he just appeared?"

"He was wandering around the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, babbling about string."

"String." Percy said.

"He'd been driven completely insane. Clarisse brought him back to her mom's house so the mortals wouldn't institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health. Chiron came out and interviewed him, but it wasn't much good. The only thing they got out of him: Luke's men have been  
exploring the Labyrinth."

Percy shivered at my answer, and Grover finished his fork, chomping down loudly on the last piece.

"Okay." Percy said. "Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?"

"We weren't sure," I said. "That's why Clarisse went on a scouting expedition. Chiron kept things hushed up because he didn't want anyone panicking. He got me involved because... Well, the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects. The architecture involved-the builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."

"Except it's a maze, right?"

"Full of horrible traps." Grover said. "Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."

"But not if you had Ariadne's string," I said. "In the old days, Ariadne's string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string."

"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," Percy said. "Why? What's he planning?"

I shook my head "I don't know. I thought maybe he wanted to invade camp through the maze, but that doesn't make any sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders. Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but... It was very dangerous. She had some close calls. I researched everything I could find about Daedalus. I'm afraid it didn't help much. I don't understand exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."

"You think Pan is underground?" Percy blinked.

"It would explain why he's been impossible to find."

Grover shuddered. "Satyr's hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"

"But," I said. "the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, trick you and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work for you-"

"It could lead you to the wild god." Percy said. Finally, he had caught on.

"I can't do it." Grover hugged his stomach. "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware."

"Grover, it may be your last chance." I pleaded with him. I had been trying to convince him of this for a long time. "The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance."

Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. He hadn't been here long enough to enforce the rules, but he knew that I had been over at Percy's table too long.

"We'll talk later." I squeezed Percy's arm. "Convince him, will you?" I returned to my table, ignoring the looks I was getting.

**That part was actually my favorite part from the book, so I'm really glad I got to write it (:**

**Anyway, I'm thinking about starting a new story, because this story is fun, but I want to do one more original. So if you guys have any ideas, I would love to hear them. Of course, it has to have some Percabeth in it, but other than that, I'm open to different ideas.**

**REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I have a free day today, since I'm sitting on my couch at home, sick. So I decided to update (:**

**And OMG I got 155 views. *claps and cheers* Thank you guys soooo much.**

**I finally decided what my new story is going to be about! So it's going to (obviously) have Percabeth. Annabeth is going to be OOC also. Summary:**

**It was cold. So cold, so dark. Inside her head, her thoughts surrounded her, the urge to do it was getting more and more intense. And that day she picked up the sharp knife she had been hiding under her pillow, her life changed forever.**

**You guys should check it out, cause I feel like it's going to be good. (:**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

After dinner was over, Quintus announced that we were going to play a 'game'. We got our armor on, and I wasn't looking forward to whatever he had planned.

"Right." Quintus stood up on the head table. "Gather 'round." His gray hair shone in the pale moonlight, making a ghostly shadow appear on the side of the wall.

"You will be in teams of two." As soon as he said that, chatter broke out between campers, each kid trying to get with his/her friend. I started to glance at Percy, because we always did this kind of stuff together, but Quintus interrupted the talking. "Which have already been chosen!"

"AWWWW!" Everybody complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course... You will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive." The crowd murmured excitedly. It sounded easy enough, as long as I had the right partner.

"I will now announce your partners." Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining." He produced a big scroll from his pocket, and rattled off names.

"Silena Bearaugard with Charles Beckendorf." Silena probably requested that one.

"Travis with Connor Stoll."

"Clarisse La Rue with Lee Fletcher."

"Katie Gardner with Lacy Moore."

"Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase." Percy grinned at me, which was pretty cute.

"Nice."

"Your armor is crooked." Dammit Annabeth, what is wrong with you? I started to redo his straps. There wasn't even anything wrong with his straps. Why couldn't I just act normal around him?

"Grover Underwood with Tyson."

Grover jumped at the sound of his name. "What? B-but-"

"No, no." Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy-"

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare."

Tyson and Grover both looked at Percy pleadingly. He gave them an encouraging nod.

"They'll be fine." I said. "Come on, lets worry about how we're going to stay alive."

**I'm really sorry, I have to stop there guys! ): I will update soon, I promise. The next part will be about them finding the Labyrinth.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! I'm back (: **

**Nothing is Ever the Same was a HUGE SUCCESS! I got 7 reviews in two chapters! **

Chapter 5

It was still light when we got into the woods, shadows from the trees casting over us like looming monsters. We found animal prints almost immediately.

We jumped over the creek, and heard some twigs snapping. We hid behind a boulder, but it was only the Stoll brothers.

We went deeper into the west part of the woods where monsters were more frequent. We got to a ledge right above a marshy pond when I realized something. I tensed. "This is where we stopped looking."

I could see him thinking. Last year, Nico di Angelo had gone missing. We had been searching for him through the woods, but had given up at this exact point. Percy had seemed pretty upset over it.

"I saw him last night." He said.

"What do you mean?" I knit my eyebrows in confusion.

He told me about the Iris-message. I stared into the shadows of the woods, thinking of all the demigods who had died out there. It wasn't fair. You train and train, just to be killed, and the training at that point wasn't even worth it. I sometimes wondered how demigods even found a purpose in life. "He's summoning the dead?" I said. "That's not good."

"The ghost was giving him bad advice." Percy said. "Telling him to take revenge."

"Yeah… spirits are never good advisers. They've got there own agendas. Old grudges. And they resent the living."

"He's going to come after me." He said. "The spirit mentioned a maze." As serious as this conversation was, I was glad we had been chosen to be partners. We hadn't had a lot of time to talk just the two of us.

I nodded. "That settles it. We _have _to figure out the Labyrinth."

"Maybe." He said uncomfortably. "But who sent the Iris-message? If Nico didn't know I was there-"

A branch snapped somewhere from back inside the west woods. Leaves rustled, and something large moved in the trees, just beyond the ledge.

"That's not the Stoll brothers." I whispered.

Together, we drew out our swords.

-o0o-

We got to Zeus' fist, a huge pile of boulders in the middle of the woods. Usually, campers gathered around here to rendezvous on a mission, but it was unusually quiet.

"Over there." I said quietly.

"No, wait." He whispered. "Behind us." Scuttling came from all around us, and I realized there was more than one. We circled the boulders when a small voice said.

"Hi."

We whirled around and Juniper yelped, our swords inches from her throat.

"Put those down!" She exclaimed. "Dryads don't like sharp blades, okay?"

"Juniper." I exhaled. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

Percy lowered his sword a little bit. "In the boulders?"

She pointed to the edge of the clearing. "In the Juniper. Duh. Are you guys busy?" She asked.

"Well," Percy said. "we're in the middle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die."

"We're not busy." I said. I shot Percy a look, but he didn't notice. "What's wrong, Juniper?"

Juniper sniffled. She wiped her green sleeve under her eyes. "It's Grover. He seems so distraught. All year he's been out looking for Pan. And every time he comes back, it's worse. I thought maybe at first, he was seeing another tree."

"No," I said, trying not to laugh. "I'm sure that's not it."

"He had a crush on a blueberry tree once." She said miserably.

"Juniper. "I said. "Grover would never even _look_ at another tree. He's just stressed out about his searcher's license."

"He can't go underground!" Juniper protested. "You can't let him."

I looked around uncomfortably. "It might be the only way to help him; if we just knew where to start."

"Ah," Juniper said. "About that…" She wiped a green tear off her cheek.

Another rustle in the woods, and Juniper yelled. "Hide!"

She went _poof_ in a matter of seconds, and Percy and I turned. Coming out of the woods was a glistening, dark orange insect, ten feet long, with sharp, jagged pincers, an armored tail, and a stinger as long as our swords. A scorpion. A red silk package was tied to its back.

"One of us gets behind it." I said, as the thing moved forward. "Cuts off its tail while the other distracts it in front."

"I'll take point." He said. "You've got the invisibility hat."

I nodded. We had fought together so many times, we knew each others moves. We could do this, easy. But it all went wrong when the other two scorpions scuttled into the clearing.

"_Three?"_ I said. "That's not possible! The whole woods, and half the monsters come after us?"

I calmed myself down, using a breathing exercise. One, we could do with ease. But two and even more… three? It wasn't going to happen. The scorpions came at us, whipping their tails around. We put our backs against the nearest boulder.

"Climb?" Percy asked.

"No time."

The scorpions were so close, I could see foam bubbling out of their mouths, the taste of a yummy demigod meal sitting on their tongues.

"Look out!" I parried away a stinger before it could hit Percy. He stabbed with his sword, but the scorpion wisely moved back. We moved sideways along the boulders. We could only defend, since going on offense was dangerous. If we let down our guard for only a second, we would both be scorpion meal. They would probably fight over who got to eat us.

"In here." Percy said.

I sliced at a scorpion, and looked at Percy like he was crazy. "_In there? _It's too narrow."

"I'll cover you. Go!"

I ducked behind him, and squeezed through the boulders. Suddenly, I was falling. I grabbed onto the straps of Percy's armor and pulled him down with me. We tumbled into a pit, the purple evening sky gleaming above us. Then the ground shut, closing us in.

Our breathing echoed against the cold stone. We were sitting on a bumpy floor made of bricks. Percy lifted Riptide, giving off a faint glow of light.

"Wh-where are we?" I said, my voice shaking with fear.

"Safe from scorpions, anyway." He tried to sound calm, and I had to smile at that. He was trying to make me feel better, probably seeing the look on my face.

"It's a long room." He said. And I realized where we were.

The Labyrinth.

I gripped Percy's arm. "It's not a room. It's a corridor."

Percy started forward, but I stopped him. My heart beat faster, the dawning realization of what we had found. "Don't take another step. We need to find the exit-" I sounded really scared.

"It's okay." He promised. But it wasn't. "It's right-." He looked up, and found the ceiling to be closed in. It looked like nothing could get through that.

I slipped my hand into his. Usually, I would never do something like this, but he was a comforting presence. Unfortunately, my girl hormones decided to act up, and I willed myself not to hyperventilate that I was holding his hand.

I made myself think. "Two steps back." I advised.

We stepped backwards together, hand in hand.

"Okay." I said. "Help me examine the walls."

"What for?"

"The mark of Daedalus."

"Uh, okay. What kind of-" Of course he didn't know. My finger found a scratch on the wall, in the shape of a triangle.

"Got it!" I said with relief, and pressed my hand against the symbol, which began to glow blue.

The roof slid open, and we saw night sky, ablaze with bright stars. I took my hand out of his, and we started to climb.

-o0o-

We walked around the rocks and ran straight into Clarisse.

"Where have you two been?" She demanded. I sighed. I didn't really want to talk about it in front of everybody. "We've been looking forever."

"But we were only gone for a few minutes." Percy said. I almost laughed at his knowledge of the Labyrinth. It was pathetic.

Chiron trotted over, along with Grover and Tyson.

"Percy!" Tyson said. "You are ok?"

"We're fine." He said. "We fell in a hole." Sometimes, I wished Percy just wouldn't talk. The others looked at him doubtfully, then looked at me.

"Honest!" He said. "There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute." Gods, for his own good he should just be quiet.

"You've been missing for almost an hour." Chiron said. "The game is over."

"Yeah." Grover muttered. "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me."

"Was an accident!" Tyson whined, and then sneezed.

Clarisse had the gold laurels sitting on her head, but she didn't even brag about them. She was to worried about what Percy and I had found. "A hole?" She said suspiciously.

I took a deep breath, looking around at the other campers. This was going to be hard. Half of these people didn't even know what Clarisse and I had been trying to discover. My hands flew up to my camp necklace, fiddling with the college ring my father gave me when I was young. "Chiron… maybe we should talk about this in the Big House."

Clarisse gaped. "You found it, didn't you?"

I bit my lip. "I-Yeah. Yeah, we did."

Campers started throwing questions at me, confused.

Chiron raised his hand. "Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place." He stared past me, looking at the boulders, suddenly realizing they were dangerous. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past."

Campers drifted off to their cabins, murmurs of complaints were heard throughout the crowd.

"This explains a lot." Clarisse said, when most of the campers had left. "It explains what Luke is after."

"Wait a second." Percy said. "What do you mean? What did we find?"

I turned towards him, my eyes burning with dark worry. "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp."

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